


Loki's Adventure in Midgard

by Sir Elliot (SirElliot)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, Humor, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki'd, Pranks!, kind of?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-15
Updated: 2013-06-15
Packaged: 2017-12-15 01:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/843563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirElliot/pseuds/Sir%20Elliot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki's always been a trickster. This time is no different.</p>
<p>OR: The Chitauri invasion, redefined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loki's Adventure in Midgard

**Author's Note:**

> I make no apologies.

As Loki stared up at the Avengers surrounding him, he let out a little grin.

“I’ll take that drink now,” he said.

The Hulk grunted in confusion. Usually things he smashed didn’t make pithy comebacks.

Thor glared at Loki. “Brother. You have brought much harm to Midgard. You have fallen so far. I find myself at times unable to even believe what you have become.”

Loki sniggered. “I am what I always have been, Thor. A trickster. The God of Mischief.”

“Brother, this is no mere mischief,” Thor boomed, heart heavy with what his beloved brother had become.

Loki laughed. A genuine laugh, filled with happiness and mirth that startled everyone. “Yes, yes. I understand, you’ve won. But let’s not forget that I won the last one!”

Thor blinked. Then he smiled. Then he looked hurt. “I won the last one,” he said petulantly.

Loki paused, eyes narrowed. “Oh yes. So you did. But I won the three before that.”

Thor sighed, and helped his brother the his feet. The other Avengers stared in shock, their weapons still trained on Loki. Although some were beginning to think they might need to watch out for Thor as well.

Thor looked at Loki expectantly. “Well, brother? I’m waiting.”

Loki sighed, and twitched his fingers. A spark of green jumped from them, and the air wavered. The destruction around them instantly disappeared. The hole in the ground was gone, the window unbroken. Steve stepped to the window and looked out at the city.

“It’s... It’s gone,” he gasped. “All of it. The corpses, the rubble. It’s like it never even happened.”

An air of confusion settled over the room.

“Can someone please explain what just happened?” Stark said, walking over to his bar for a drink. The suit slowly dismantled, until he was standing at the bar in his civvies.

Loki rolled his eyes. “It was a prank, you curmudgeon.”

“What did he just call me?” Stark demanded over his drink. Everyone ignored him.

“Obviously I would never align myself with any creatures from the void. Disgusting. No, I must say,” Loki mused, an odd smile gracing his lips. “The fall from the bridge certainly did me well. Plenty of time to think over everything that had happened. To come to terms. Make peace, even.”

Clint silently sat down on the couch, lowering his bow. He stared at the floor as Natasha sat down next to him and gripped his arm lightly.

“I am over a thousand years old,” Loki continued. “I have given birth to horses and snakes and wolves and even Hel herself. I have loved and lost and even died on a few occasions. Did you really think a little thing like the matter of my paternity would get to me? That I would get upset over my ‘true form?’ I am a shapeshifter. Every form is my true form. Imbecile,” he directed at Thor, although the smile lessened the insult.

“Brother, I had no idea. I assumed — I assumed that you were still as immature as I had been before my time on Midgard,” Thor stated heavily.

“I know! I can’t believe you fell for it! This is even better than that time you dressed as a woman and-”

“Yes! Yes! A very good jest, indeed!” Thor said hastily, cutting Loki off. “We should return to see mother and father. You have been gone many moons, brother. They have missed you.”

The Hulk slowly returned to Bruce Banner, who sat down against the wall, wearing nothing but a pair of ridiculous purple pants.

Loki snorted. “Ha! Odin probably knew the whole time, the old bag. He never did fall for my tricks.”

“Aye, Odin has always been wise to your trickery, brother,” Thor agreed, sporting a half smile that wouldn’t quite leave his face. “I believe I have missed your tricks. Annoying as they were, it is wonderful to see you in good humor again.”

Steve stared down at the city, watching the people walk by. He looked at the destruction that had never happened. He could see the lives that had never been lost. Just touched. Touched by gods.

“What about the people?” Steve said suddenly, Thor and Loki turning to look at him in surprise. “Will they remember?”

“Parts of it, perhaps? They’re all alive again, obviously. Killing thousands of people on a new planet simply isn’t done. It’s rather rude, actually.” Loki considered this for a moment. “Well, it is here at least. There are other realms where they have much better senses of humor. This, sadly, is not one of them. I’ll never understand why you like this place so much, Thor.”

“Poptarts, brother! You must try them!”

Loki sighed. “Once again, won over by breakfast. This is Alfheim all over again. You didn’t return for years, simply because their scones were especially good.”

“Once you try them, then you will understand,” Thor insisted.

Loki shook his head. “I truly never will.”

Tony Stark downed the rest of the bottle he had been drinking from. “You brought an alien invasion to Earth as a prank?”

Loki shrugged. “When you have played as many tricks as me, sometimes it can be challenging to remain original.”

Stark considered this. “I like it,” he decided. “Since no one got hurt and everything,” he added quickly.

“Those people I killed,” Clint started, “are they-” He looked up at Loki. “What happened to them? I remember killing them.”

Loki shrugged. “They’ll all pass it off as a dream, I suppose. Most of them, anyway. No harm done.”

Clint sighed, and rested his head in his hands. Natasha eyed Loki, her expression unreadable.

Loki frowned at her. “Thor, I tire of this place. Let us return home.”

“Aye, indeed brother. I shall fetch the tesseract at once.”

Loki rolled his eyes. “That’s not the real tesseract, you twit. The real one remains with Odin. That’s a copy I made. I’ve been planning this trick for many decades.”

Thor nodded, impressed. “Verily, brother! In that case, you’ll have to return us to Asgard yourself.”

“Child’s play,” Loki insisted. “Take my hand.”

Thor took Loki’s outstretched hand, and together they disappeared in a flash of green light.

There was a long period of silence, interrupted only by the sound of Stark’s glass hitting the counter.

Again and again. Sip after sip.

“Is this a win?” Steve finally asked, his voice quiet.

Bruce shrugged. “It’s not a loss. All those people are alive again. Like it never happened.” He stared off into the distance.

“Except it did,” Clint said, his voice muffled by his hands. Natasha tapped his shoulder gently.

“This means Coulson’s alive,” she whispered to him softly.

The team paused for a moment to consider that.

“Like it never happened,” Bruce repeated.

A gentle silence fell over them again.

Steve touched the glass of the window softly, looking out at the skyline.

Stark sipped his drink, rapidly making his way through another bottle.

Natasha’s hand rested gently on Clint’s shoulder as tears dripped down his face, hidden.

Bruce leaned his head against the wall, tugging at his unfitting pants.

“When you think about it,” Stark said, “it’s actually pretty funny.”

No one laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> This is also posted on my Tumblr, hobbithaiku. Just in case you were wondering.


End file.
